Better-than-average horror film with a little brains and plenty of brutal gore.

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 2002)

**Warning - possible spoilers (minor)**
There are some reviews around that would have you believe this is a piece of brainless, low-budget, uninspired tosh. I can tell you now this film is none of those things. This is a movie that really deserves 2 hours or so of your attention; it really is worth watching.
There are several flaws in this film, but nothing as bad as any you would find in your average Hollywood no-brainer.
The acting is OK - Eccleston, Murphy and Gleeson were good, while Naomie Harris's performance was passable. Megan Burns (Hannah), however, gave one of (if not THE) worst performances I have ever seen. Her 'acting' was absolutely awful - the kind of wooden word-delivery that footballers, pop stars or other non-acting celebs sometimes give when called upon to deliver lines in cameo roles.
The premise of the film was good, if not entirely original; the opening few minutes of a deserted London were cinematic bliss, although I feel it was the subject, rather than any brilliance in cinematography that did the trick here.
The 'holes' in the plot are much debated, and while the story does tend to raise a lot of question along the way, I didn't find anything that couldn't be ratified with a little imagination, common sense and a smidgeon of the old suspension-of-disbelief. The only issue I really had trouble coming to terms with was the abundance of abandoned traffic in the Blackwall tunnel, while there was a total absence of traffic anywhere else in the movie.
The second half of the movie is far inferior to the excellent opening, but is still entertaining enough. Naomie Harris's Selena character takes a disappointing turn from a machete-wielding ass-kicking independent woman to a slushy love-interest for the main character... It seems logical that the character had been normal before the "28 days" events and this was the "normal" Selena showing through, but the sheer brutality of the character in the opening 30 minutes (particularly the cold-blooded machete killing of her possibly-infected compatriot--some of the best movie violence I have ever seen) makes the character a little hard to deal with.
All in all, this is a fresh and interesting addition to the horror genre - a genre which isn't best known for its intellect. Don't let the fact that this is a British movie, or that it is a Danny Boyle film, make you expect too much of a high-brow thinker of a film--you'll be disappointed. 28 Days Later is a better-than-average horror film with a little brains and plenty of brutal gore.
Go see it and make up your own mind.